Nashoba Regional raises kindergarten, pre-K fees

BOLTON -- Kindergarten and prekindergarten tuition rates were raised for next year at Tuesday night's Nashoba Regional School Committee meeting.

State law allows families to pay a fee to send their children to full-day kindergarten and prekindergarten rather than half-day. Assistant Superintendent George King said there were no increases last year, and tuition prices equal the actual cost of the program. He said the district is seeing cost increases, such as in teacher salaries.

The annual kindergarten tuition for next year will increase by $100 for the entire year, with the new tuition rate at $3,100.

Some families qualify for reduced or waived tuition rates, such as those with low incomes or multiple children in lower grades.

Prekindergarten rates are monthly. The tuition for a five-day, full-time prekindergarten student was raised by $38, and is now $668 a month.

Also at the meeting, committee member Lorraine Romasco said she has received seven phone calls from parents of high-school students saying there are twice as many kids trying out for the drama club's production of "Les Misérables" as there are roles available.

Committee Chairwoman Nancy Federspiel added that she has received several calls as well.

Romasco said there are about 100 students in the program and less than half received roles. She said there are students who couldn't get in the technical crew either, because there weren't enough slots there.

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"The good news is that it's a nod to the program," Romasco said, adding that the popularity of the drama club reveals the strength of the program.

But, she said, too many students are being left out.

Also, Jodi Specht, director of the guidance office, and Nashoba Regional High School Principal Parry Graham presented the school's annual profile document, which is shown to colleges, and features placement-test score averages for the school and an outline of the curriculum.

Graham and Specht recommended that the district stop including class ranking in their transcripts. Because Nashoba Regional students routinely perform better on such tests as the SATs, they said the class ranking makes some students look worse than they really are.

Graham said someone in the top 25 percent of the class would test in the top 10 percent of other school districts.

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